Carmelo Anthony is not getting traded to the Clippers for Blake Griffin and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. The two sides have not even discussed this idea. It doesn’t matter if Chris Paul wants him or not.

“There’s always trade rumors to try and get [me and Paul] together,” Anthony said. “It never happened … It was stupid and silly.”

The Knicks should have some concern that they are going to lose Carmelo Anthony this summer (it seems the people around ‘Melo are pushing that line of thinking) but their long term plan remains to re-sign him this summer. If you are going to get him in a trade, you have to blow the Knicks’ doors off.

The Clippers aren’t going to do that. Doc Rivers said as much. Griffin is an All-Star forward at age 24 whose game is still improving — and it’s a game that is a much better pick-and-roll fit on offense with CP3 than ‘Melo. The Clippers need consistent defense up front, that’s not what Anthony brings to the table.

Plus, after years of messed up draft picks Griffin is the one the Clippers nailed. He is the focus of their marketing campaign, he’s wildly popular with Clipper fans. Los Angeles isn’t moving him for ‘Melo. Or really anyone else.

One source close to Ewing said the Hall of Famer felt a bit slighted by the Knicks’ offer to coach the Erie Bayhawks because he has already established himself in the NBA.

“Patrick has paid his dues,” the source said. “He was a little insulted.”

I can get why Knicks coach Mike Woodson didn’t want to add Ewing to has staff as an assistant, that would have led to a lot of “if things don’t go well we’ve got a coach in waiting in the wings” talk. You know, pretty much what happened with him and Mike D’Antoni.

9:05 am: Well, Patrick Ewing did get a head coaching offer this summer. It just wasn’t the one he expected. Or wanted.

Ewing interviewed for the Bobcats head coaching job this year, he interviewed for the Pistons job last year and… really, it would be faster to list the teams where Ewing hasn’t been passed over. He’s paid his dues as an assistant but has never been offered the big chair.

Patrick Ewing, who for years has been passed over for coaching positions with the Knicks, recently turned down an opportunity to become head coach of the club’s D-League team, the Daily News has learned.

Although Ewing is out of work after he was not retained by Orlando, the ex-Knicks great, who interviewed for the Charlotte Bobcats’ head coach position in June, would prefer to work in the NBA.

Ewing is an experienced assistant coach having most recently been on Stan Van Gundy’s staff in Orlando, with stops in Washington and Houston before that. He has interviewed for a number of NBA head coaching jobs but has never gotten an offer.

I don’t know why Ewing didn’t take the Knicks offer (reportedly he would prefer to stay at the NBA level), but I will say there is a perception among some around the NBA that if a coach goes to the D-League he can’t use that as a stepping stone to an NBA head-coaching job. That perception may be unfair and even untrue, but it is out there and some people buy into it. They think the best path to an NBA head coaching job is as an assistant at that level.

The Knicks have an open assistant coach position but Mike Woodson is expected to hire LaSalle Thompson for that spot. They have yet to hire a coach for their D-League team, the Erie Bayhawks.

The NBA is set to release its official 2011-12 schedule later this evening, during a program which will be broadcast on NBA TV at 7 p. m. ET. But one team’s schedule has leaked in its entirety, and it shows that plenty of fans won’t be happy with the way things shake out.

The Phoenix Suns’ 2011-12 schedule was obtained by Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, and has been posted on the paper’s website. We already knew going in that not every out-of-conference team would be seen in every NBA city, and the Suns are one team that certainly seemed to get the short end of that stick.

The NBA let us know ahead of time that as far as non-conference scheduling would go, home teams could expect to play three teams two times (one home, one away), play six teams one time at home, and play six teams one time on the road. So, there will be some teams in the West who don’t host the best teams featuring the biggest stars of the East, and vice versa. The Suns? They don’t host almost any of them.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and the Miami Heat will not be coming to Phoenix, nor will the reigning MVP Derrick Rose be visiting with his Chicago Bulls. Dwight Howard (if indeed he remains in Orlando this season) won’t be coming to town either, and neither will the Boston Celtics.

Most importantly to Suns fans, perhaps, is the fact that Amar’e Stoudemire won’t be back for the second time as a member of the New York Knicks.

The Suns aren’t likely to be the only team affected by the schedule this way, and they won’t be the only team affected by the loss of ticket sales from the guaranteed sellouts that these star-laden teams would provide. They’re just the first example of how the shortened season is going to impact fans in most markets who will be denied the chance to see the NBA’s biggest stars play in person.

After spending much of the summer at his rented house in Hollywood Hills, Calif., Amare Stoudemire returned to New York City on Wednesday to speak to a small group of 10- to 12-year-olds about the importance of education.

More importantly, for the Knicks community that is, Stoudemire shared two pieces of very promising news at Harlem’s Polo Grounds Community Center. He said he feels great and starting Monday he’ll be back to high-intensity workouts – the kind of “back” fans want to hear. The second key note is that he’s hearing the lockout may be resolved sooner than later. (Let’s not forget teammate Roger Mason Jr. is the vice president of the NBA players’ union.)

Back issues were a serious problem for Stoudemire when the Knicks were swept by the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs — after a 28-point, 12-18 shooting performance in Game 1, Stoudemire went just 9-37 in the last three games of the series. Stoudemire also said all the right things about a commitment to defense when asked about new assistant coach Mike Woodson, but the best news for Knicks fans has to be that Stoudemire, who has struggled with injuries throughout his career, is feeling 100% healthy and ready to go at this point in time.

Yes, yes, we know: If there’s a season. But since the league is pretending like there will be a season by releasing the 2011-12 schedule on Tuesday, as details of the marquee games continue to leak out, we’ll keep bringing them right to you.

We’ve already told you that the main event on Christmas day will be a Finals rematch between the Mavericks and the Heat. Now comes word of another of the holiday’s scheduled games, via Barbara Barker of Newsday (on Twitter):

Knicks to host the Celtics on Xmas day, league source tells me. Provided, of course, there is a season.

If all of these reports are true (and really, we have no reason to believe otherwise), then that leaves the Lakers, who traditionally play (and often get crushed) on Christmas day, without an obvious opponent considering the Heat and the Celtics are already matched up elsewhere.

Since the league typically uses Christmas as an opportunity to showcase its biggest markets, brightest stars, and top teams, you’re probably looking at some combination of L.A., Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Orlando being involved, along with a couple of upstarts to round out the schedule.

We won’t have to wait much longer for the official announcement, which will come at 2 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. Exactly when we’ll get the more important announcement — you know, the one that tells us whether or not there will actually be a season — is unfortunately anyone’s guess.